


A Stroll Down Resurrection Boulevard

by WormholesandPegasus



Series: Living Lightning [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 2: The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson), Everyone Is Doing Their Best, Gen, Luke is very tired, Thalia is alive but she is busy, The Hermes cabin is a mess, so she is not here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:09:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26056987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WormholesandPegasus/pseuds/WormholesandPegasus
Summary: Death it turns out, is not entirely permanent for Luke, apparently he has more important things to do. One of them being taking two demigods to camp: a place he never thought he would return.
Series: Living Lightning [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1891591
Kudos: 16





	A Stroll Down Resurrection Boulevard

**Author's Note:**

> This wasn’t originally going to be a series, but my muse and motivation work in mysterious ways. So oh well.

It starts with relief. Indescribable relief that still cannot fully fill to holes within. That is the feeling of being pulled out of the Fields of Punishment.

He is assigned a task by the lord of the dead himself and it involves going back into the lion’s den. 

He takes it anyway.

His life begins truly again on Half-Blood Hill. June, 2006.

Luke Castellan trudges up the hill with two other demigods. One sits on his shoulders and the other behind him.

The younger kid—Nico—is talking Luke’s ears off. A trading card game that is honestly beyond Luke: Mythomagic! The Greek gods trading card game! 

Bianca is the older sibling. She is much quieter. Throughout their trip from Las Vegas she has revealed very little about the two save for the fact that their family immigrated from Italy. 

The rest of their history he has had to find out himself. Hades told him that the kids were his own and that they were born before the prophecy; so pre-1940s. Not to mention the fact he found them in the Lotus Hotel and Casino next to an anti-war protester from the early seventies. 

He did his best to catch the poor kids up on world history but he isn’t the best teacher when he has to subtly hint at what things are basic knowledge. It is what it is.

A shout catches his attention.

Luke sets Nico down behind him and gestures at Bianca to do the same. 

It’s not going to be pretty.

In less than a minute at least five weapons are pointed at him. To be honest, Luke expected a few more—he is an enemy of Olympus after all.

Luke grins, “Missed me?”

The weapons do not move.

“Let’s move him to the big house! Chiron needs to see this!” One of them commands, likely Katie Gardner. She has certainly grown taller in the span of a year.

So Luke is led at spearpoint to the big house. Poor Bianca and Nico are left to watch, trailing behind the group.

Campers stop and stare as the group passes.

Luckily for Katie and less luckily for Luke, Chiron meets them before they arrive at the big house. It means that they are subjected to group silence for an extra minute on their walk.

Chiron dismisses the other demigods on the arrival of Dionysius, leaving Luke and the Di’Angelos as the only demigods in the room.

“Lucas Pastel, can you please explain to me how you are standing in front of me, not dead, after you were smited by Zeus?” As usual, Dionysius fails in remembering his name.

Rage flares within Luke.

At least Chiron is able to pick up on the tension rapidly building within the demigod. “What he is meaning to ask is why you are here? That is what we do not understand.”

Luke sighs. He knew it would come to this question. “I am here on a deal with Hades to protect his children at camp.”

“Children of Hades?” 

“The kids,” Luke answers, “I think they should introduce themselves.”

Bianca and Nico anxiously sit in chairs across the room. Bianca speaks first, always ready to protect her brother, “Bianca and Nico Di’Angelo, sir.”

Chiron’s expression changes from one of exhaustion to a questioning one. He seems to have not expected this outcome.

“Since the others disobeyed their vows, their father thought it was safe to bring his children from before the vow was taken to camp.” Luke pauses, “I am only a messenger for him.”

Dionysius snorts into his coke, “Given your status.”

A familiar simmering anger flares up within Luke but he quickly stifles it. He cannot afford to be thrown back into the Underworld.

Chiron nods, “I will not go against the orders of Lord Hades.” The centaur sighs in defeat. “You can go with Katie, she will take you and the kids to the Hermes cabin.” 

Dionysius makes a grunting noise and leaves the room.

Chiron catches Luke before he does the same, “But wait just one second. Dionysius is leaving for a day and I am being temporarily removed for the foreseeable future.”

Luke raises an eyebrow but doesn’t question it.

“Someone else will be here in my place, but I need some adult to look after the kids while he’s here.” The centaur affixes an accusatory glare at Luke, “I do not care about your feeling for the gods. There are children here.”

The two join the campers on the porch, who look concerned at their expressions.

Luke lets Nico up on his shoulders again, “Let’s get going.”

The walk to the Hermes cabin feels much longer than usual with the dread that has filled Luke’s chest. The world seems to simultaneously cool and slow down. He can’t help but think he has let his campers down. He didn’t give them recognition they deserved.

But the grip of little Bianca’s hand in his gives him some hope. Maybe it wasn’t a failure after all.

The Hermes cabin is no different than it was last year. So many unclaimed kids still bustle about the small space. Mattresses still litter the floor where people should be able to stand.

Nothing has changed. His plan failed.

The whole cabin stands up upon his arrival except for one or two kids he doesn’t recognize.

Luke doesn’t know what to say, so he says what he always did when bringing in campers, “This is Bianca and Nico Di’Angelo. They are going to be staying here for a while so make them at home.”

The heavy silence filled the room when he arrived hangs heavily in the air before a lone voice speaks up, “Hermes or Undetermined?”

It’s the voice of Chris Rodriguez: one of the undetermined campers, coincidentally also a kid Luke is sure is a son of Hermes.

He gives Chris a smile, “Determined, children of Hades.”

The room explodes before Luke can ask if anyone has taken his bunk. 

Fortunately, no one has, and Luke is able to throw his bag on the lower bunk and open the window before he has to save Bianca and Nico from the ongoing onslaught of questions.

“Who’s running this place?” He asks Chris.

Chris turns away from the girl he is talking to, “Travis and Connor, but I think they are pranking Malcom right now.”

Luke nods, leaning against the bunk, “so chaos then.”

“Chaos.” Chris agrees. The boy laughs.

“I guess I have to get this calmed down then.” The older teen mimes at the younger to plug his ears. “Alright!” He shouts, “Lets get some order in here!”

There are a total of eleven campers plus Luke and the kids living in the Hermes cabin. It’s better than it was last year at least. But that doesn’t mean it’s any good.

The least Luke can do while he’s here is do a little good himself.

“My name’s Luke, in case you don’t know me. I’ll be helping out around here for a while so come to me if you need anything. I will be fielding questions about the Underwold at a later date.” He puts a little extra emphasis on the last phrase because he is definitely not ready to talk about that experience.

“Who here is a claimed child of Hermes?” 

Only two outside of him and the twins. So fourteen campers, five of Hermes—six counting Chris—two of Hades, and eight unclaimed. And of course there are only eight bunks at the moment which means six of them will sleep on the floor.

With a sigh Luke takes his stuff off his old bunk and gives it to the Bianca and Nico. He can sleep on the floor for a while, it’s better than the Fields of Punishment.

That leaves four on the floor. “We’ll have a big crafts project starting tomorrow, so get ready, it will be a long day.”

Luke needs a nap.

Unfortunately for him, it doesn’t last long. He wakes up to Travis and Connor standing over him.

“I do not need one of your pranks right now, I am much too tired for this.” He rolls over to the other side.

“Chiron’s gone!” They shout in unison.

Luke sighs deeper than he thought he could, “I know.” He buries his head in his pillow, “He told me.”

“But someone else has replaced him,” Connor adds. “I think it’s Tantalus.” Travis finishes.

Luke curses into his pillow. He was really hoping he’d be luck for once. Obviously he was very wrong. “I’ll get up. Just tell me what he’s doing.”

“Nothing.”

“Yet.”

“Do most of the campers know who he is already or do we need a history lesson?” Luke asks, still not fully awake yet.

Travis looks away to count, “Probably like three or four.”

“Can you ask Chris to help you with it, he seems pretty bored.” Luke can see the kid out of the corner of his eye sitting on his bunk.

Connor brightens up, “Yeah sure!”

“I’m going to get some supplies,” Luke says to no one in particular before he gets up and leaves.

Suffice to say, Luke was dreading this encounter. 

Annabeth Chase stands in front of him, scowling with her arms crossed. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?” She asks sternly.

“Honestly, no. I am here because I have to be, not because I want to trouble you any longer.”

Annabeth is too smart to fall in that emotional trap, “I meant why did you leave me.”

Of course she would bring that offense on him, “I didn’t expect them to find out so soon. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. It went wrong so fast.”

“It never is! I thought you were smart, Luke!” She shouts, tears quietly rolling down her cheeks. “Why do you always do this?”

She leans up against him and hugs her. 

He is surprised to say at the least but hugs back nevertheless. He hasn’t got a hug in a long time. He’s definitely missed his adopted little sister.

“I won’t do it again.” He holds back his tears, “Family, remember?”

But Annabeth shakes her head, “I’m sorry, I—” She pulls herself out of the hug, “I can’t do this to myself. I just can’t.” She looks distraught. The girl takes a step back and flees back to her cabin. 

Luke knows deep down that they won’t ever reforge that friendship.

Hopefully the next day won’t be any worse. 

Unfortunately for Luke, he is very wrong. Thalia is on a quest again, this time to fix the borders. Nothing eventful happens until breakfast with staring and Tantalus trying to eat his food.

It happens when Luke is sending his food to Hestia—he refuses to do anything for the other gods. They don’t deserve his blessing.

Tantalus stands up, “I think we could use a lifting of our spirits! I think a chariot race will do!”

The camp is split equally between groans and cheers. It is going to be a long day.

Luke lets Chris lead the crafts project of building new bed frames. He knows who it’s for and is looking to put in some customization.

Luke can watch over Travis and Connor while they help build the chariot to make sure they don’t get distracted. He wants their cabin to win, they deserve it.

But he is pulled out of his thoughts by another camper, the son of Poseidon.

The kid looks at him, “You’re Luke, right?”

“Yes.” He tries not to let the irritation enter his voice. He really does not have time for this.

“Why are you here if you betrayed the camp?” The kid asks.

Luke runs his a through his hair and frowns, “I don’t know, kid. I’m not all seeing, no one is. We’re all just here doing our best.”

The camper looks as if he is thinking about what to say. Luke can see him dismiss one of his thoughts and opt for silence.

“What’s your name, kid?”

The son of Poseidon turns to look at the counselor, “Percy.”

Luke smiles wistfully, honestly, “It’s nice to meet you, Percy. I hope I don’t end up betraying the camp, if you’re half the swordsman I heard you are, I’m not sure I want to end up on the receiving end of your sword.”

He walks away.

Cabin Eleven’s chariot fared better than Luke expected. Their father is the patron god of inventors after all. 

They come in second place, with the Poseidon cabin in first. Luke expected the sons of the god of horses to win the chariot race. It was just logic.

Later that afternoon comes sword training for Nico. Bianca chose a spear, so she will be working with Laura, one of the other Hermes’ campers.

The kid is so young most of the swords do not fit him. So Luke equips him with a large dagger, it’s the closest they are going to get to a weapon his size.

“I need to see your sparring stance.”

The kid’s stance is terrible. His feet are too close together and his hands are too far apart.

Luke corrects him, falling into his old rhythm as counselor and instructor. Ready, swing, correct, repeat. And repeat again. And again.

Nico is getting better. His swings are more fluid than they were earlier in the day. He is becoming more confident.

During a water break Luke can see Percy watching him.

He nods at Nico to let him and the other kids take a break, “Perce, you up for a spar?”

The kid nods confidently, “I’m always ready for a fight.”

Luke laughs. “You better get ready then.”

Both swordsmen step into their sparring stances. Almost in sync, the take a slow deep breath to ready themselves.

They launch into combat, blades glancing off each other. Step forward, shuffle back. The sound of bronze on bronze, metal scraping. Sparks fly as the two are locked in battle.

Finally the battle comes to an end with Luke disarming Percy.

He throws a water at the younger kid, “Thanks for not sabotaging the fight with your powers.”

Percy grins. “You’re the first person I’ve fought in a while who I’ve lost to. It was a good fight.”

“Thanks. You’re—”

“I still don’t trust you though,” the kid interrupts.

The counselor laughs at the comment. “I appreciate it, kid.”

Percy is about to leave when Luke speaks once again, “The only thing I don’t get is why didn’t she take you with her to the Sea of Monsters?”

Percy turns back to look at the counselor. A look of confusion takes over, “She took Clarisse. Her father provided transportation.”

“But you are the son of Poseidon.” Luke replies with a calm tone, “It is your father’s domain, not Ares’. You should be on that quest with her.”

“I—” Percy shuts his mouth in thought.

“Kid, there’s still time for you to help.” Luke reasons, his voice inflecting his concern, “Annabeth knows the way.”

Percy is skeptical. He has never trusted Luke. “Why do you want to help?”

A shadow falls over Luke’s face. His scar shines unnaturally in the light of the moon. “I don’t want the kids here to die. I hate the gods, not their children. So go get the fleece, the camp needs you.”

Percy flees into the sunset, leaving Luke to look after the Di’Angelos. He can only hope it will go well.

**Author's Note:**

> Luke definitely did not go to Elysium in this universe.


End file.
